“I’m so happy that something else happened to my car while I wasn’t in it” said no person ever.
If you have been following my accidents-that-happen-when-I’m-not-the-car saga, I think the count was three in a month, and then one 30 years ago.
Until two weeks ago.
On July 18th, my husband went to work and upon his arrival home we were going to leave on a two week vacation that involved driving to the airport in New York City and then flying to see his parents and go on a cruise and do the whole thing in reverse.
My car had just been back from being fixed for a few days. I told my husband a few times that the grill looked different. I knew it was new, and therefore shinier, but it still looked different.
In and out of the house we went packing the car for our 2 week adventure. In and out, in and out and then I looked directly at the front grill and saw……
Invisible license plate
AAAUUUGGGHHH
No wonder it looked different, knucklehead Barb. THE LICENSE PLATE IS MISSING. For a moment I thought it was taunting me with its beady little eyes. Don’t you be gettin’ in my grill.
Then I calmly ran into the house screaming OMG THE LICENSE PLATE IS MISSING. And my husband covered his face with his hands.
I apologized profusely. I should have noticed I should have noticed I’m sorry I’m sorry and I realized I wasn’t helping the situation. And, as he replied, he didn’t notice either.
We unpacked the car and repacked it all in the smaller car. And checked that both license plates were on that one.
After our vacation, it only took one trip to DMV and two trips to Home Depot to get the stuff to put the new one on. If it hasn’t occurred to anyone else I’m pretty sure the car repair place didn’t put it back on the new grill. Nor did they put the thingy on the back of the grill in which to screw the bolts.
But I’m married to #awesomehusband so he did everything and I wisely stayed out of his way.
When all was finished I walked out to look at the new plates. Oddly, the letters of the plates are my high school and college nickname.
Adage: Out of trials, serendipity arrives. Yes I made that up.
saneteachers 
“Then I calmly ran into the house screaming OMG THE LICENSE PLATE IS MISSING”.
I laughed out loud when I read that line. I love how you describe things like that!
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hahaha thanks. I may have also been windmilling my arms. For real.
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Oh man even I looked at the picture and couldn’t tell the license plate was missing. I just figured it was a picture of a happy face without the smile. How does this always happen to you?
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Tim has the philosopher’s viewpoint…” I’m actually surprised this hasn’t happened more often to you.” I thought you would roll your eyes at the get outta my grill line.
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Haha I actually loved that line and was going to mention it but forgot.
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I had a student shout that at me once. I sighed and she laughed at me and all was well. Who knew I would finally have an appropriate place to use that line?
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If someone told me to get out of their grill, I’d say – “I’m not a hamburger.”
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Why didn’t I think of that? I don’t even associate that with a grill for cooking. Isn’t that strange? The world of high schools.
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Phew. I thought you were going to tell us the car was hit while you were on vacation. That would have been quite the welcome-home gift! Hope you had a great trip and that you had a chance to relax. Also hope you’re healing up well from your surgeries.
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Thanks. The vacation was awesome.
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Your husband is a keeper! Glad you noticed it before setting off on your trip. I am glad it is resolved😊
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Keep your fingers crossed that this was it!
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Thank you for the reblog.
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I’m sorry you haven’t had the best luck with cars, but I’m glad your husband was great through all of it!
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And I was great when someone backed into his car at the train station. #makeitwork Thanks for your comment 🙂
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I’m sorry, I shouldn’t laugh at your troubles! But it is hard not to when you write about them in such a funny way! Welcome back from your trip, and I’m so sorry about your car troubles. What in the world do you think the shop did with your original plates????
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It was only the front one, because that’s the grill that had to be replaced. It turns out the side mirror wasn’t the only thing the truck or whatever hit. It must have hit my tire, too, so everything under the car on that side was screwed up. But in NY you have to have both plates. I think someone has it hanging in their basement haha.
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You are long over due for a long stretch of time with absolutely no problems with your car!
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I wholeheartedly agree! Yet how fortunate we are to have a car, much less 2. It has shown us that with some finagling with our jobs, we can live with one. It would be cheaper, but would be easier if we lived where there was public transportation.
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